


The Loners Society

by Whyack



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Competition, F/M, Future, High School, POV Third Person, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27109702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whyack/pseuds/Whyack
Summary: A generation ago the United States government was overthrown by its people. Led by four valiant heroes, new laws and new actions were put into place. The first of those being the eradication of the public school system. In its stead, 24 cities were built intending to educate the rising generations. Large schools meant to teach thousands intertwined the cities, all connected. Colleges and high schools were merged so students could study what they wished. But the world was not stopping for students and their education. The world was filled with tension; the nation needed leaders. The new government designed a game to train its young. Six teams were placed against each other, all made to wear masks to disguise themselves. Through the means of strategy and wit, one team must rise above those around them. When only one team remains they shall be rewarded with the chance to better the nation, and maybe the world.
Kudos: 2





	The Loners Society

Sometimes when dozing off, he would find himself lost in the past. Flashing memories of days spent without care would seep into his mind and leave him with that feeling of reminiscent sadness. Unfortunately, Shawn found himself in one of these moments as the large ship that he was traveling in entered the city's limits. The light hum of the magnetic engine filled the ship with ambiance as Shawn's mind wondered. He yawned and stretched his feet out from his seat.

A light slowly dimmed on and the seat rose from its reclined position. Classical music filled the room to gently wake Shawn from his slumber, but he hadn't slept a wink in the six-hour flight back. Once the light was on and the AI assistant confirmed that he was fully awake, it announced that it had arrived at its destination.

"Thank you, Frankenstein. Please refuel and head back home." Shawn said as he stood from the seat. Frankenstein, the AI assistant, confirmed the orders and readied for departure as he grabbed his suitcase from its compartment overhead. The ship was made for single person transport, so it was compact. A mini-fridge, a large holoTV, the chair, and a nice little rug was all that fit into the room. Behind the seat was a closed-off door that led to the cockpit. Most ships these days were AI-driven, so the cockpit was only there for self-indulgence or in case of an emergency.

In front of Shawn, the back of the ship opened like the jaws of an alligator. A steel walkway folded outward and down until it touched the landing platform. He walked along it until he touched the ground. A weight lifted off his shoulders then. He'd always hated flying, but his father had insisted on it. The ship had landed on top of one of the many skyscrapers of the Third District. Buildings reached out beyond his own and touched the clouds.

Shawn raised his hand to block out the brightness of it all. With a sigh, he walked off the platform. The platform was one of many that scattered the rooftop. Some were over the edge, connected only by a walkway. Some were elevated and held there by a single tempered glass elevator. His was one of the off the edge kind. So he walked the pathway to the building's rooftop where a young woman attendant greeted him with a warm smile.

"Thank you for choosing Lanik Dockyard. May I be of any assistance today?" She asked kindly. She was dressed in a variant of the flight attendant uniform that was used back in the day of commercial flying. Shawn shook his head, but as was the custom of the Lanik Dockyard, she followed him. Honestly, he felt bad for the girl. She was being paid little to deal with pampered kids and those too rich to use regular dockyards. Shawn's father hated regular dockyards as he always thought they were a scam, but in reality, it's because he was afraid of being mugged. So instead Shawn was forced to land at a high-end dockyard that would make him feel all important.

"Would you like me to carry your luggage?" She asked.

"No, thank you. If you don't mind I'm getting ready to receive an important call in a few minutes."

She nodded and gave another thanks for using their landing pads, then moved onto another platform someone had just landed on. Shawn walked towards the center of the skyscraper where a small building sat. Once inside, he saw the dozen tube elevators that lined the walls with red plush couches to divide them. These elevators were a newer model designed to travel to each floor at the speed of a jet. Though it doesn't feel like it. The official name for them is MAG elevators as they use magnets to do all that, but most people just call them tubes.

The foyer was empty besides a few businessmen and women entering and exiting the tubes. Shawn entered one and steeled himself, not yet entering a floor on the holo display. As if on cue, a small vibration shook his watch. He looked at it and accepted the call on the small screen. A moment later his Cursor projected his father's face on a screen a foot from his face.

A Cursor is a small ear clip that works as a small holoprojector with a watch as the main control. They replaced phones a long while ago.

With a swipe of the watches touchpad, his father's face shrunk to the corner of his right eye. A spiderweb-like string shot out of the Cursor and positioned itself on the right end of his mouth. The string was actually a small glass microphone that would allow him to communicate.

"Hey Shawn, Frankie just let me know you landed." His dark blue eyes and short blond hair was a reflection of Shawns own features. His father's hair was its usual unkemptness with a bit of a beard forming on his jawline, a clear view of the nights of restless work. Shawn clicked one the small one on the holo display to begin his descent.

"Yeah, I just landed a few minutes ago," Shawn replied.

"Ah. good. No trouble, I hope?"

"Nope, just the attendants."  
"That's good... well, as much as I want to chat I have work to do so just text me when you make it to your apartment. See ya."

"Bye."

His image blinked off, and Shawn was left staring at my transparent reflection. Behind it was a flow of bright colors as floors passed by. The tower was filled with all kinds of entertainment for those passing through. Casinos to spend some time at while waiting for their ships to arrive. Strip clubs to throw cash at while they refuel. It was all very elegant.

Shawn passed them all by in an instant; the elevator had arrived at the ground floor. He exited into a grand marble lobby filled with intricately made spires and lavish furniture. A few people scattered the main lobby, on their Cursors browsing the web or like. Walking past all the luxury and to the long counter filled with attendants helping customers or typing away on digital keyboards onto digital screens.

Shawn approached the nearest one, a girl who was playing solitaire. She looked at him with disinterest and asked for the usual. Shawn handed her his blank white card that held all his information on it. The information on it was only accessible by DNA verification, which it got from his thumb when passed to her. She scanned it with her Lanik Dockyard designated Cursor.

As they finished up she asked, "Are you here for business, pleasure, or residency?"

"I'm here for residency. I have an apartment in the district and I am attending the coming semester."

She nodded, then paused, then looked at him with narrowed eyes. Shawn didn't exactly look like a student. He wore an expensive suit and was entering the city from an expensive dockyard, not the regular ones or even the train system. Hell, he was even using his father's expensive gel to slick back his hair. She looked at Shawn's name for the first time and her eyes widened.

"Ah, Mr. Larak. We didn't know you were using Lanik Dockyard today!" She was mistaking him for his father.

"I'm not the Mr. Larak, I'm just his son," Shawn said.

"O-oh, well still thank you for using our dockyard today." She said, her smile diminishing slightly. It wasn't her fault she thought he was his dad. Shawn was the spitting image of him from when he was his age. And he's still young, having had Shawn at 16. A year younger than he was now. There's that and the fact his father has become a hermit of sorts the last few years so nobody really knew what he looked like nowadays.

"Thank you. I'll be off then." He said courtly. Then left them to their gossip.

***

Shawn arrived at his apartment an hour later, having used the train to head to the Central district to get some dinner and some food to last the week. When he entered his apartment, the afternoon had grown late. Shawn's apartment was a big thing, courtesies to his father. A short hallway led to an open area with the kitchen to the right and living room comprising a couch and my holoTV. Shawn had two AI drones set the bagged food on the counter that lined the kitchen wall.

The two drones chimed in their thanks for buying from their store, then hurried off, out the door and back to their owners.

"Frank, anything I missed?"

"Only one thing, Mr. Larak, it is a hand-written letter that was dropped in your mail bin. I had the tubes bring it and it's sitting on the table." The AI said in its monotone voice.

Shawn then gave the AI instructions for dinner and it set about its business with commands it can issue to the electronics in the apartment. From there he untucked his shirt, loosened his tie, took off his shoes, and took off the dress coat, and put it away. Once that was completed Shawn sat on the couch and set his feet on the old coffee table that was between the holoTV and the couch. He grabbed the letter from the table and turned it around in his hand.

It was paper, just paper. And that was odd enough. Paper was rare these days, only a few companies may produce them in the world and even then the slim bleached things are costly. With a delicacy that came from knowing its impact on history, he slowly ripped the top off. That's because whoever sealed it used some kind of super adhesive so it wouldn't budge.

From the inside, Shawn pulled out the letter itself and read it.

Mr. Larak, I would like to formally invite you to join me in a game. It's a fun one with many opportunities that will present themselves if you win. You know where to find me.

You're old, wheel-chaired, friend.

Shit, he thought.

***

Shawn had been avoiding the man who had sent me that letter since elementary school. It wasn't hard considering the size of the city and the fact they attended different district programs, yet as he stared out of the viewpoint of the train he knew the invitation couldn't be ignored. The man, or rather teenager, was one Reed Victinerai, possibly the smartest guy to walk this planet. His brain worked in ways Shawn could never imagine, so he couldn't imagine why he would send an invitation to play a game. He doubted it's one of the old tabletop ones they played as kids, at least.

The fact that he left so many questions was proof enough that something was going on. And of course that they hadn't talked since they hit double digits. But he decided it would be rude to just ignore his request. So when the train stopped, and the magnets settled to the ground, Shawn exited the train. He was on the other side of the city, far from his apartment and deep in shopping territory. He was near enough to Central that a few adults scattered the swarm of teenagers that were indulging in after school life, or on their way to part-time work.

Four days had passed since Shawn returned to the city and the semester was well into its first week. The students of the Second District all studied Fine Arts, so it wasn't odd that the lower-bracket streets consisted of things from karaoke bars, mostly nonalcoholic, to art stores. He looked at the little blue line that raced from me down the street. My Cursor was guiding him along the streets, its blue line showing toward his destination. The city was designed to hold three layers of traffic. None of the car variety, as the government had banned them long before he was born.

Instead, people had to rely on ships, trains, or good old feet. Well, there were the segways, but they were damn hard to drive so most avoided them. Anyway, the city's streets were divided into three sections. The first was the high streets that ran along the top or between the skyscrapers. The second is the lower-bracket streets that ran a few feet above the main roads, those streets ran along the skyscrapers as well but were expensive or more adult-oriented so students tended to stay away. The last of the streets were just the main roads that ran along the ground.

Shawn made my way down to the main roads that led to my destination. The sun was obscured by the buildings so even though it was only four in the evening street lights lit up the road and stores. Shawn fought his way through the crowds until he made his way to the residential area. One would think to house the thousands of students that attended this district they would need the dorm housing to stretch into the sky and reach out with the highest of the skyscrapers, but no. They were built in early 21st-century apartment-style, with white-painted steel staircases that ran around the two-floored buildings and old bricks that made up the frames.

Shawn walked along the streets between the buildings until he spotted the one he had come for. Building seventeen, floor one, apartment number one-thousand-three hundred and forty-nine. The only reason he knew the address was because of a surprise Christmas party Reed had hosted and Shawn was forced to go to. Luckily, he had avoided Reed because of the sheer amount of people that attended. It was so big that the entire complex was filled with people. He hadn't even meant for it to be so big, but once word got out about a party, the whole two floors felt inclined to join and invite whoever they could.

The event was so horrific it's forever burned into Shawn's mind. And as he approached the room, he felt flashbacks sicken my stomach, or maybe that was just the anxiety. He knocked on the door and steeled himself with his social persona. When the door opened Shawn was looking downward, because of... well... Reed was in a wheelchair. Instead, he was greeted with feminine hips and leggings. Shawn looked up and for a moment felt his persona drop. Mavis Barnhill looked at him with her quirky smile as his eyes returned to normal view height. Except not, because she was much shorter than him.

"I told you, Reed! I knew he'd show up," she said with her usual enthusiasm. "Hey, Shawn, it's been a while."

He looked past the girl, ignoring her greeting, and saw three more people in the single room apartment. Reed sat on a plush chair against the back wall, looking at Shawn with a weary smile. The two others were both guys he didn't know, and both were looking hard at the ground. 

"Hello, Shawn. Sorry for not letting you know beforehand that I had invited others, but we both know you wouldn't have shown up if you knew. Please come have a cup of tea with us. I have a proposal." Reed said.

Shit, he thought

Game had turned into a proposal. Shawn sighed at the headache that was forming. Reed was right, he wouldn't have come if more people were here. He doesn't hate people, but too many of them wore masks these days, so it's too much of a bother to try to talk to them. A prime example of that was the girl standing right in front of him.

"Hello, Reed. I would like to say it's good to see you, but considering I just landed into one of your traps... it's not likely." Shawn said with dripping malice. He then turned to little Mrs. Furball. 

"And drop the act Mavis, it's getting old." He felt his persona build itself up again. One of the unknown guys snorted a laugh at what he had said, finally looking up. Mavis turns with a sigh, her shoulder-length black hair bouncing as she moved to sit on Reed's bed. Her delicate-looking face turned to a pout. Shawn entered, closing the door behind me and leaning against it in case he needed to escape. Reed, now turned toward him, waited as the one who had laughed brought him a plastic cup filled with sweet tea. The guy had chocolate-colored skin and black hair like Mavis, but unlike her puffy curled hair his was only had it long enough to slightly bend forward at his hairline. Oh, and he was ripped.

Whenever Reed spoke he sounded like a man trying to inspire hope, it was dumb, but people listened. And Shawn knew he was going to talk too because the whole room turned toward him. The tea guy leaned against the desk he was sitting on beforehand, his eyes looking towards Reed. Mavis leaned forward from her cross-legged position, her eyes looking towards Reed. And the final one, a skinny kid with dark brown hair badly in need of a haircut, pressed his body against his backwards chair, eyes looking at Reed.

I fucking hate you, Reed. Shawn thought.

He took a sip of the tea and stared uninterested at the boy in the wheelchair. He was, without a doubt, the kind of man the world needs. An almost perfect leader. So at the center of his followers, he leaned forward in his seat, his side-swept light brown hair leaning with him, and he looked at Shawn with all the interest in the world.

"Shawn, what I'm about to tell you is the complete truth. If you don't believe me, or those here, you can even ask a member of the board." He lets the silence drift with drama. "I'm sure you know the state of the world?"

Shawn nodded, wondering where this could be going. One hell of a game of Risk was his bet.

"Then you might know the world needs leaders. Men and women who can help salvage what's left of the world and bring it back to its glorious feet. To do so, our government created this new system of learning. Let the rising generation become what they want. So they may rebuild with their knowledge this system taught them. Yet we still need people to lead them. Yes, some may naturally rise on their own, but the world won't wait for that. And so I come with a game devised by the Four Valiants after the Day of Red and Blue. While other students live their life with little care, seven men or women who show signs of great leadership to take part in a game.

"The Admin, the one who supervises this city's game, hand-selects them and hands them over to Supervisors who guide them throughout the game. Who, in turn, advises the leaders as they handpick a team of their own. I am one of those leaders. And I have chosen everyone in this room to take part in this game. You all show what's needed in a leader, and this game is devised to make us ones. That now includes you, Shawn. You see, each team specializes in a... let us say personality type.

"My team is the Loners Society. We focus on those who hid their true self from the world. You, like us here, hide your true self from the world. Did you know that? I did. Mavis did. Just as you know our true selves. There are five other teams out there, Shawn. All with their type. And when the game ends, only one will remain. And they will rise to the top of the world ladder. So, will you join us?'

Shawn looked him in the eyes and saw he was not lying, but it didn't keep the smile on his face. It was hilarious. The concept of such a game was mad. But Shawn wanted to say yes. Reed knew he wanted to say yes. That's why he said nothing as Shawn coughed to hide his smile. That's why his eyes never left Shawns. Reed knew Shawn thought himself a shadow of his father. If he could win this game, and what he says is true, Shawn could become a giant himself. Reed knew this. He knew how to play games; he loved them. Shawn knew he's not really in it for the after credits. He just wanted to play and win.

But Shawns played games with him before and he knew his king was always left as bait. That's what this was, an illustrious painting, but it was all made of cheap paint that would fade as soon as it was paid and gone. Draw him in with grandeur and dazzling words. He just couldn't figure out the final move.

"What's the catch?" Shawn asked.

"Be specific, please," Reed replied.

"Let's not do this, Reed. We spent enough time playing games with each other for me to know you're hiding something."

"Fine. The game has already begun and one of our members has dropped. Now we're three months into a sixteen-month game and were already dead last. But we've been given a mercy. Usually, when a member drops, we lose points, as it is a point-based game. And any points he could have gained us is lost. So the mercy is that we may replace that member with you. Preferably."

Shawn stared at him, knowing he's still got something he's not telling. He doesn't understand the game completely yet, and he won't unless he agrees to play, but it all felt a bit sticky. Shawn racked his brain for an idea until something came.

"He didn't drop, did he? He somehow lost the game."

The room looked at him in surprise. It was not a grand thing, this lie. Being the second choice didn't hurt him or anything, and Reed knew that would likely be the case. So why the little lie? Could he be missing something? Mavis smiled at Shawn mischievously, and he knew he'd revealed a lie she didn't agree on.

"He didn't drop. He took the path of a knight when he was really only a pawn. That's what you are replacing, Shawn. The pawn. You know I like to play my games with a team of design. Jack-" He nodded to the tea guy, "is my berserker. He rampages through my battles. Mavis-" He nodded to her, "is the witch. She plays from afar with traps and trickery. Nick- " He nodded to the skinny kid, "is my rogue. He uses tech to gather knowledge on our enemy.

"And you, Shawn, will become my pawn. The one before you was useful in his own devilish ways, but he played like a fool and lost. You will become my cannon fodder. You will take hit after hit, but as soon as we reach the other end of the board and the game begins for real, you will become whatever I need. My berserker, my wizard, my rogue, my tank, or whatever else I need. The one before you did not meet the standard. Will you, my oldest friend?"

Shawn glared at him then. He knew this would be Reed's play. He would dress up the frog so she looked like a princess. Yet in the back of his mind, he doubted that. What if he was just overthinking it all? What if what Reed said was true?

"And when does the game begin for real?" Shawn asked.

"As soon as the game is no longer shit talk, so now," Reed said in reply.

"And will I still rise to the top, even as a pawn?"

"Yes, because if I could do this on my own, I would."

Shawn only thought for a moment, it was all in or all out. And he wasn't the type of guy to back out, even if he wasn't even a part of it yet.

"Fine, then. I'll join your game."

Reed smiled, the others smiled, but Shawn did not. He looked at Reed as he shared hopeful looks with his team, now his team.

What have I gotten myself into? He asked himself.

"Welcome to the Loners Society, Shawn."


End file.
